Randy Moss began his NFL comeback with his first formal practice for the 49ers Thursday in Santa Clara, Calif., and Niners quarterback Alex Smith said the former Patriot looked smooth.

"It's tough to tell that he missed a year of football. I certainly don't see any rust," Smith said. "He's running well, catching well. No surprise, he's a pro and already has a good understanding of the playbook."

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who suffered a torn ACL shagging fly balls last week, also has a blood clot in his right calf and has been placed on blood-thinning medication.

“I was more concerned about the blood clot than the knee,” Rivera said at a press conference Wednesday. “For a minute I thought, ‘What else is going to happen?’ … I was scared. I never hear good things about blood clots.”

Former Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter said that he put bounties on opposing players, offering his teammates money to keep an eye an opponent if he was concerned that player was trying to hurt him.

"I'm guilty of [bounties] -- I mean, first time I've ever admitted it -- but I put a bounty on guys before," Carter said Tuesday night on ESPN Radio's "Hill and Schlereth" program. "I put bounties on guys. If a guy tries to take me out, a guy takes a cheap shot on me? I put a bounty on him right now!"

According to a document revealed by Yahoo! Sports Monday, former Saints defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove said in a sworn statement that two Saints coaches encouraged him to deny the existence of the team's bounty program to NFL investigators. Hargrove described meeting in February 2010 with then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and current assistant head coach Joe Vitt, and Williams telling Hargrove, "If we all stay on the same page, this will blow over."

Yet, with all four suspended players appealing, the denials continue to fly.

Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels sent a message to Nationals rookie Bryce Harper in the first inning of Sunday night's game, hitting him in the back with a fastball. In case the message wasn't received, Hamels admitted after the game that it was no accident.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Junior Seau's family told a Chicago brain research institute that it plans to donate the former Patriots linebacker's brain to Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. The BU center has become well known for its work studying deceased players' brains for evidence of trauma.

"This specimen needs to be examined," said Dr. Julian Bailes, director of the Brain Injury Research Institute in Chicago. "It doesn't matter who does it. There are only two groups doing this kind of work."

The Buccaneers are signing paralyzed former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand to a free agent contract, allowing him to fulfill his dream of joining the NFL. Bucs coach Greg Schiano coached LeGrand at Rutgers, and he surprised LeGrand with the honor.

"I always wanted to go to the NFL," LeGrand said. "It may not be the circumstances that I wanted, but I'm there.

"I had no idea, no idea this was going to happen. Honestly, it's amazing. It is. It really is."

Oil Can Boyd said during an interview with ESPN's Buster Olney that he used crack cocaine every day of the 1986 season with the Red Sox, and that the team was aware of his problem.

"I would come into the ballpark, [team doctor Arthur Pappas] would call me in the back and he ask me, 'How you feel? Did you do some last night?' And I was honest with him, 'Yes I did,' " Boyd said in the interview, which aired on ESPN's "E:60" program Tuesday.

Following the Knicks' 104-94 loss to the Heat in Game 2 of their first-round series Monday night in Miami, Amar'e Stoudemire took out his frustration on a glass case housing a fire extinguisher. The result was a cut on Stoudemire's left hand that might prevent the forward from playing in Game 3.

Tweeted Stoudemire after he left the arena with his hand wrapped and his arm in a sling: I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start.

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is not happy with the way general manager Jerry Reese has been handling negotiations for a contract extension, claiming that the GM is trying to make him look like a "greedy pig."